Centrifuge bearing behaviors of batter-piled wharf under lateral cyclic loading

Abstract

This article investigates bearing behaviors of a batter-piled wharf subjected to cyclic episodes of lateral loading with varying amplitude through two-way displacement-controlled centrifuge modeling. Results show that the lateral load vibrated around residual values and deviated toward waterside. Lateral stiffness exhibited degradation with increasing cycles in each constant magnitude sequence. The residual vertical displacement kept decreasing and tended to become constant over time. The residual pore pressure was positive in the seabed soil and around piles over time; the soil around double-plumb piles registered larger residual pore pressure and magnitudes than other areas. The increase or decrease of soil pressure depends on the balance of pore pressure redistribution and soil reconsolidation in the upper soil, and the lower soil registered decreasing soil pressures owing to poor drainage condition induced soil softening. Plumb piles exhibited waterside curvature in the upper part, and the bending moment around the front double-plumb pile head was larger than other plumb piles. The whole forward batter pile exhibited waterside curvature induced by the soil settlement, while the backward batter pile bore the largest bending moment around the pile head, and its landside curvature tended to relieve affected by the soil settlement.